Evening Edition: Bruins Double Up Lightning 4-2 To Take Division And Conference Lead
Troll, Brad, troll.
(Author’s note: The game needed blogging but I zonked out around 5:30AM while writing this and couldn’t get back to it til this afternoon, hence the tardiness.)
In what may have been a second round preview last night at North Station, the Bruins and Lightning played a high-tempo, chippy game for first place that saw the top guns on Boston (63-37-88) combine for seven points in a highly-entertaining 4-2 win. The regulation victory allowed the Bs to leapfrog Tampa Bay and take over both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference leads. Not too shabby for a team on the playoff bubble at Thanksgiving. Oh, and did I mention they were missing their top D pair (a former Norris winner and a future Norris winner) and a pair of top-six wingers?
Not sure if I buried the lede here but the game also featured David Pastrnak achieving his first Gordie Howe Hat-trick and Tuukka Rask finally getting fed up with crease-crashers and having a bit of a go with Cory Conacher.
Pasta had his first NHL scrap with Dan Girardi after the Tampa Bay defenseman leveled Patrice Bergeron at center ice with a hard, clean hit. Given his status in the locker room (if not the league) and his conky history, Pastrnak took exception and smartly goaded Girardi into a fight instead of quickly jumping him and getting an instigator or extra two. The scrap might not trend on hockeyfights.com but Pasta showed up and that’s all that counts.
The Bs came out storming in the first, outshooting the Lightning 17-6 and outscoring them 2-0. The dogged forechecking from Tommy Wingels and Tim Schaller produced a two-on-one where the net-crashing Schaller’s skate hit the puck as he was stopping. Definitely not a kicking motion. 1-0, Bs.
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Pasta’s 32nd of the year came when his shot was inadvertently tipped upward by Tampa D-man Ryan McDonagh to make it 2-0 with :26 left in the first.
But the second period was the inverse of the first. TB had an 11-3 shot advantage and halved their deficit when J.T. Miller converted a sick Nikita Kucherov PP feed. No, like watch this fucking pass.
Patrice Bergeron’s 28th of the year gave the Bs an insurance goal that would soon come in handy. His goal is also in the running for Prettiest of the Season. Torey goddamn Krug is 1-8–9 in his last 5 games and 14-43–57 on the year. He’s been huge with Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy both on the shelf.
But less than two minutes later, Rask gave the haters ammo for their pea-shooters when Victor Hedman beat him on a shot that Rask shouldn’t allow to get past him, making it 3-2. Naturally, there was much belly-aching online because Rask allowed a softie so therefore, he sucks. Forget that ridiculous save on Kucherov or that he’s 9-0-1 in his last 10 but always remember that shit goal to Hedman that cut the lead to one.
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The Lightning pressed hard for the equalizer but the Bs team D did a solid job of getting in front of shots and when they did get through, Rask made the save. The Bs (and puck line bettors) had to sweat out a pulled goalie but Marchand put a bow on it when he completed a hot potato sequence in which Pasta deferred to Bergy who deferred to Marchand who then punched it home.
It was the biggest win of the season for the Bs so far. Back in November when the hockey media world was all talking about that whole “teams in playoff position at Thanksgiving make the playoffs” thing, the Bs were just outside the ropes of that hot new club, PLAYOFFS. Today? They’re in a VIP room with bottle service on the house, a table full of party favors, and more smokes than you can shake a stick at.